Save Paragon City!: To former Paragon employees
By
BurnSucka,
Posted on: 2012-09-02 18:54 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
By
BurnSucka,
Posted on: 2012-09-02 18:54 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Cross-posted at the Titan Network forums
First of all, I am not soliciting you to do anything that you would feel uncomfortable with or that you cannot do due to contractual obligations, severance package agreements, etc. I don't know what you can and can't say or do, so if anything below makes you say, "I can't do that!", please understand that it's in the spirit of not being aware of any limitations you're under, not in the spirit of milking information out of you that you're not supposed to be giving out. I promise that if I don't hear from you, or even if I do and you cannot or will not participate or tell me something, there are no hard feelings. Having been under contracts, non-disclosure agreements, severance agreements, I understand and the last thing I want you doing is putting your financial well-being at stake.
So with that having been said...
As you know, I would really like to chase down the possibility of keeping City of Heroes alive as far as I possibly can. I'm hoping you will be on board with me, because this is your baby. I really feel that you deserve better than this, and I suspect that at lot of you feel the same way. The game was well into its era of jamming on all cylinders, and the stuff you had coming down the pipeline was going to push it into overdrive with a shot of NO2. We don't want a corporate strategic realignment to kill this game, and I'm sincerely hopeful and optimistic that NCsoft will understand that there is no good business reason to let something of value collect dust, and there would be a lot of goodwill generated by allowing the fans to continue playing and the community to continue growing. Hopefully they are also proud of their extraordinary accomplishments with City of Heroes and will understand that even if they cannot be involved with City of Heroes's continued development due to adjusting long-term goals, continued success of the game would reflect well on them as a company.
At the Titan Network, we could really use your advice and expertise. Not just technically, but regarding any aspects you think would help us in our efforts. I know that you've been hit with a lot recently and I certainly don't expect you to prioritize helping us over doing whatever it takes to provide financial security for yourself and your family, but if you have any spare cycles to give, I would love to pick your brain with the explicit understanding that "I cannot talk about that" will be respected.
Please write down my contact information:
E-mail: tonyv@cohtitan.com
Skype: tonyv.paragonwiki
Facebook (Though if you want communication to remain undisclosed, you might want to use an alternative means of contacting me since friends lists are rather public on Facebook.)
Gtalk/Google+: tonyv@cohtitan.com
Phone: Contact me using one of the above means and I'll tell you; I don't want it published.
And, of course, the Titan Network forums.
Again, to moderators and NCsoft, this is not an attempt to solicit information that is prohibited from being divulged. To former Paragon employees, your privacy will be respected. If there is any confusion over what I can or can't share with the public or the rest of the Titan crew in our efforts, I will make every effort to make sure your wishes and well-being are respected.
Some of the things we need help on are topics such as the corporate culture at NCsoft, approaches we can take when contacting them and what you think would and wouldn't be effective in what we are trying to achieve, technical information regarding the back-end platform that City of Heroes runs on, technical information regarding the software and tools used to develop City of Heroes, contact information you'd be willing to share (or vice versa, contacts you'd be willing to give our names to in hopes that they would contact us), and so on. Also, if our efforts are successful and we are able to either acquire rights to City of Heroes via crowd funding or work with another studio to ensure that the game continues to exist, I'd like to gauge your level of interest in continuing to work on the game. If any of you have ideas or help to offer us, or need help in any personal efforts to keep the game alive, please know that you will have a dedicated team of Titans unquestionably at your beck and call to help you in any way we can.
But again, I don't want you to think that I only want to talk to you to milk information out of you. Even if you can't share anything at all, I'd like to keep in touch with you folks, if for no other reason than to pass news and information about new projects you're involved in to the community (which will continue regardless of the ultimate fate of City of Heroes). You all have built up quite a following, and this news and information would be of great interest and might very well benefit you in spreading the word about projects you are involved in, which would undoubtedly capture City of Heroes players and fans who admire your work.
Thanks again for all of your hard work, and I really do hope to hear from you. I've enjoyed meeting every one of you every opportunity I got, and no matter what happens, I have the utmost faith that you are going to land on your feet and make the best of this situation.
If you're not a former Paragon Studio employee but you know one or more personally who isn't familiar with me, the Titan Network, or our reputation, I'd appreciate any efforts you can commit to facilitate getting us in touch with one another.
We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.
(If you love this game as much as I do, please read that post.)